Hot Hot Heat

It is really hot in El Salvador. I don't have a thermometer and of course no one uses Fahrenheit here, so I never know the temperature, but weather.com is claiming 102 degrees where I am. And of course I am walking around in jeans, shorts being taboo here. Luckily, the rainy season is coming next month and then hopefully things will cool down. But for now, I am battling another bladder infection born of dehydration, derailing my plans to do any work today.

I actually got sick at my friend's site, which is way hotter than mine, and all the wine we drank probably didn't help matters. I started heading back to my house yesterday, couldn't stand it and got off the bus half an hour later in the big city of San Miguel, where I spent the day in the hospital and the night in a hotel. Thank God for antibiotics, because I feel much better now and am posting this from another city on my way home today.

I have had some disease every single month since I got to site. After each one, I learn a little more about how to take care of my health and decide I won't get sick again for the next year and a half. This time I hope it's true, as the hot season is almost over. Even though I chug water, it's hard to avoid getting dehydrated when we can't drink any of the running water here. So if I only get sick again next March and April, I will consider my service a success.

But now I have to hustle back to my site and do a ton of work. The week after next will be hectic, with Earth Day, a big meeting to plan our school's vivero, or orange and pineapple nursery, and the first meeting of our community development organization. My daily English classes have started again as well. It would have been easier if I could have gotten some work done during Semana Santa, but even the people who stayed in the village refused to do any work during "vacation week." So now I have to try to recover while running around in the 102-degree sun.

My birthday was fun anyway (see wine reference above.) Will came and we watched a ton of DVDs and picked a ton of oranges to take to my friend Megan's site the next day. At her place, we were treated to chocolate banana bread and lemon cookies (yum!) as well as real food like pasta and pierogies. Although it's conveniently close to a big city, which is something I always wanted, Megan's site is super hot and dusty and literally made me ill, which made me appreciate the site I have even more.

I have hit a milestone. I used to get sick and want to go home to the States. Now I get sick and want to go home to Canton San Jose Carrizal, Santa Maria Ostuma, La Paz, El Salvador.

Paz y amor.